We’ve searched for surf perch before. Supposedly there are little fish in the breaking waves of the Oregon Coast sucking up bits of crab, shrimp and sand worms, but our previous trip for them didn’t provide the truth. This trip turned out a bit different. (hint: yes they are there!)
Watch the video of the trip here:
We hit the coast for a couple weeks at the end of October and first half of November, leaving in time to arrive for some perfect fall weather. Sun and a slight offshore breeze was perfect for walking the beach and casting into the surf.
While we didn’t have immediate luck, after trying a variety of locations we finally tracked the surf perch down. The first ones were a bit small but provided some fun action as they were apparently in a school and nearly every cast produced a fish for a stretch of time. This first catch was destined for the fry pan, and eventually a tortilla. Fish tacos anyone? (They were delicious)
Our weather didn’t hold out forever, and an atmospheric river was headed straight for the Oregon Coast. Remember when they used to call it a rain storm? Six inches of rain was in the forecast for the coming days, perfect for camping. The forecast came true.
We hunkered down while the storm blew over, eventually turning north, we eventually travelled the length of the Oregon coast, from California to Washington. We started in the middle, went south, and eventually north as far as Long Beach, Washington. Along the way we tracked down a few more surf perch and also tried out a few jetties when the waves weren’t breaking over the top of them.
Once the storm passed we found ourselves in our favorite coast campsite. We were lucky to be there they day we were, we had a front row seat to a stunning sunset over the beach. We found the fish we were after and had some stunning weather to boot. It wasn’t our last night in Oregon but it seemed like a good send off to me.
